Friendly Competition
by King35763
Summary: As Matthew and Leila break into the mansion of a well off family in an attempt to steal one of their treasures, they have a small competition to see who's the better thief.


"I've just... about got it"

"Right... is this about the same amount of "just about" as five minutes ago?" a bored voice droned in response.

"There's no need to be rude, he uses good locks on the outside to prevent people like us from getting in". The cloaked speaker pauses from his picking to pull back his red hood to reveal chestnut hair and matching eyes. He quickly reaches up and brushes some of his hair away from his eyes, before leaning back down. "Luckily for us, while these locks are good..." He smirked and his picks hovered in place as he looked over at his compatriot, "I'm better," moving his pick at the same time.

However, he was only met with silence, and not the expected click. Frowning, he turned back to the lock, and worked at it for a few more seconds before it made the satisfying _click_ and dropped down. He quickly resumed his triumphant stance and smiled at his companion.

He watched her brown eyes slowly roll, one of them covered by her bright auburn hair that she kept parted over half her face. She then smiled and shook her head. "You're getting rusty Matt" she said as she started walking towards the door which was now unlocked. She opened it, and turned back to Matthew and said "But I suppose you haven't completely lost your touch", as she gave him a little slap on the ass and walked into the castle.

Matthew rolled his eyes and walked after her. "You've been out of the game just as long as I have Leila," he called after her. She apparently didn't deem that worth a response, just kept on walking forward, eyes sweeping for any traps or loot to take. Matthew continued to call after her, "All I'm saying Leila is that you say I'm rusty, but so far I'm the only one who's..."

They both sensed the line that he was about to cross. He quickly cut himself off as she stopped mid-step, then quickly turned on her heel and walked back over to him, with a grin on her face and fire in her eyes. ' _Shit,'_ he thought, ' _here we go'_. "Are you saying," she said slowly, her tone a little too jovial, "that I'm incompetent?"

"That's not what I said" Matthew said defensively.

"But you implied it," she retorted, "Which is just as bad, if not worse"

The two stood there in silence for a moment, Matthew assessing his chances of recovering and not getting stabbed right now, Leila calculating how she best to prove him wrong. Finally Matthew sighed and said, "I'm sorry about what I said, Leila, let's get going."

However, as he started to walk forward, he felt a hand on his chest push him back. Leila smiled and said, "How about we have a little friendly competition, thief to thief, to see who's in better practice?"

Matthew paused, then looked back at her with a grin, "I'm not sure if I like the sound of that Leila"

Leila shrugged. "If you prefer we can call it a lover's quarrel." She walked up to him so they were face to face, just inches away from each other as they smiled at each other.

"Let's stick with friendly competition for now." As he said that, he moved inward, and the two locked into a kiss, a passionate one fueled by the adrenaline of the competition. However, on Matthew's end, it was also fueled by a little more than that. Leila had the map of the castle in her back right satchel, and Matthew was not about to let her have that kind of advantage. Slowly his hands moved down to her lower back, and as they did so he quickly reached over and pulled the map out of the pouch, slipping into his arm band before the hand returned to holding her tightly.

The two pulled away, breathing heavily, faces flushed and smiles on their faces. "Meet back here in an hour, and we'll see who's in better practice," Leila told him.

As she started to walk away, Matthew pulled out the map, and opened it and called, "Well between that lock and this map I'd say I'm already off to a pretty good start" She paused in her pace, and Matthew chuckled to himself.

His laughing stopped however when she turned around, and she was holding three sets of lock picks. He quickly started patting down his pockets as she laughed. "I'd say I'm also off to a pretty good start babe. But without these, you're going to have a tough time." She winked as she stowed them.

He smiled and shook his head. "Those were clean takes, I'll give you that"

"Better than you for sure, you were about as subtle as a _Mjolnir_ spell." She turned, and despite her bright yellow cloak and purple clothes, she started to fade into the shadows as she called out, "The hour is already started Matt, better get to it". With that, she was gone.

Matthew continued to smile like an idiot as he took off, similarly hiding in the shadows as he proceeded forward, dodging from corner to corner. He knew exactly what he needed to do to win this competition. If he could manage to steal what they had come here to steal, then he had won. Anything other than that was simply a nice bonus. So all he had to do was make it there first and then he'd wi-

A foot crossed into his vision about two feet in front of him. He immediately dodged to the wall and moved to the heaviest shadows he could find, as the rest of the guard's body stepped into view, doing a quick scan before continuing his patrol. Matthew slowly let out the breath he was holding. That was too close.

Taking more care to be aware of his surroundings, Matthew stalked forward further into the castle. Glancing at his map a few times, he snaked through the weaving corridors until finally he found himself in front of the marked room. There were an impressive set of double doors, blocking off the various treasures housed within.

Matthew stared at the doors, contemplating his options. He could sneak into the room, and hope that he didn't catch the attention of the guard inside, or he could rush inside and hope to overwhelm them. He wasn't a fan of the second option, but sneaking into a closed room was also just as unlikely. Perhaps he could sneak around and see if there was a second entrance?

As he stood there thinking this, suddenly the door started to swing inwards. In a panic Matthew dove towards the side, and did his best to disappear as an armored figure appeared in the hallway, doing a few stretches before walking down the hallway. Matthew blinked, and looked back towards the door, one of which had been left slightly ajar. He couldn't believe his luck.

However, after quickly thinking, he wouldn't believe his luck either. Slowly he crept forward and managed to quietly push the door forward just enough for him to press into the room. Inside he found an array of glass cases, each housing various riches and plunders for the family to flaunt to visitors. The glass made Matthew roll his eyes more than anything in the room, knowing that the case itself likely cost more than some of the treasures they housed.

Matthew crept forward, glancing from glass case to glass case. However, as he breached the entrance, he caught an odd shape out of the corner of his eye. He gyrated and quickly moved towards one of the pillars of the display cases as a voice said, "Is someone there?"

Matthew slowed his breath as he heard the guard's feet start to slowly approach. He waited until the guard was almost upon him, before quickly rotating around, and then ducking over to the next pillar. He waited, his breath held, until he heard the guard sigh, and turn to move back to his post on the wall. He shuffled around the pillar to avoid the guard's gaze, before slowly sliding down and taking a deep, quiet breath. This was going to be trickier than he thought.

Carefully, he got back up, and barely peeked up over the case to view the treasure inside. It looked like a very fine pearl necklace, and he thought he caught a hint of a large ruby. A fine piece, but not what he was looking for. He was going to concentrate on getting what they were here for, and then he could grab other pieces on the way out.

So he crept from case to case, slowly eyeing the contents to find the piece he was looking for. Five cases after the necklace, he found the one he was looking for. It was a small shield, similar to a family crest that could also fit in your hand. However, instead of having a family's symbol painted on it, it had a painting of ocean waves, and some writing from some long dead language. As Matthew watched, the waves on the crest seemed to slowly crash and rise again, the design slowly changing as if being constantly repainted.

Slowly, Matthew pulled out his knife, and began to slowly press it under the glass. When he'd penetrated far enough, he slowly lifted, using the dagger point as leverage to lift the whole case subtly, so he could attempt to stealthily steal the piece.

However as soon as the case started to be lifted, he heard a low moan, and saw an illumination above his pedestal. _Shit,_ he thought as he quickly drew out his knife. He heard running and looked up to see the guard approaching.

 _Double shit_.

He quickly dodged out of the way as the guard thrust a spear at him. His hand quickly reached out and grabbed part of the shaft. He lifted it briefly before bringing it down with force on the glass case, causing the whole thing to shatter. Releasing the spear, he grabbed the crest, grimacing as he felt some of the shattered glass slice open his palm. It wasn't enough to give him pause as he quickly stuffed the loot into one of his belt pouches and began to dash towards the door. The guard shouted something to get him to stop, but Matthew wasn't paying attention, he was just running.

As he sprinted through the hallways, he heard other groups of people running around, some following him, others just in the area. Once or twice a stray arrow whizzed past, but other than that no one was able to get close to him. Even if they were unarmored, Matthew was faster than average, and would outpace them with ease. Now all he had to do was –

He felt something crunch as he turned into a corner and hit something hard where he was not expecting it. He stumbled back as he saw a familiar armored figure standing in front of him, and barely had time to shake out of his stunned state to dodge out of the way of the rapidly approaching lance. He dodged back a bit and found himself pressed up against a wall. The way towards his exit was blocked, and the path to his left was riddled with people looking for him. Realizing the only way was forward, he reached for his daggers, flinching slightly as his sliced palm made contact with the hilt. However, he stood at the ready to either make it past or die trying.

He took a step towards the passageway he had just come from before pivoting and charging directly at the guard. They, expecting Matthew to try and run, took his initial bait and stabbed out towards where they assumed he was going to be. Unfortunately, they didn't hit the wall like Matthew had hoped, but it was still enough of an opening for him to run forward and press one dagger into the shaft of the spear, and the back of the other one into the hand of his assailant. Between the combined pressure of both daggers and them being extended from their thrust, the spear twisted out of the guard's hands and clattered to the floor. Matthew quickly tried to kick it out of the way, but it wasn't able to roll very far away in the tight corridor.

However, instead of diving for it like he had hoped, the armored figure instead drew a short sword that had been sheathed behind their back. They didn't hesitate to quickly unleash a flurry of cuts and swipes, showing that the blade was far from just a backup. Matthew was barely able to dodge out of the way, having to deflect the final thrust with his dagger to prevent it from piercing his chest.

As he did so he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned just in time to see a plated knee slam into his face. If his nose wasn't broken after running into the guard initially, it was now as he flew to the ground, tears obscuring his vision. However, through his blurry vision and haze, he saw the armored figure pull the sword above their head, ready to bring it down for a finishing blow.

Instead the guard stumbled back as there was a sudden flash of purple and yellow, and almost instantly a dagger pierced through the chestplate. It stayed there as Leila now stood over Matthew, an amused look on her face as she said, "Honestly, what would you do without me?"

Matthew didn't answer her question as he stumbled back to his feet, blood streaming down from his nose. Without a queue, both jumped forward, moving only as long time partners could. Matthew made two quick slashes as Leila came in for a side swipe. They then used that momentum for Matthew to jump over her back and follow up with two quick stabs towards the armored chest. The two of them continued this barrage, with the guard barely able to deflect their attacks. They started with a solid defense, but soon started to become sloppy from the constant barrage of attacks from all sides.

Matthew and Leila kept pressing until they saw their opening. The guard overcompensated from one of Leila's feints. Seeing this, Matthew instantly dove towards the sword, throwing his full weight behind pushing it with his dagger. The sudden force caused the guard to start to fumble with the blade, but also caused Matthew to drop his dagger in pain and from the slick blood from his earlier cuts.

However, before the dagger had hit the ground, Leila jumped on Matthew's back, raising her remaining dagger high above her head to plunge it down through the armor. The figure saw this, and dropped the sword, instead raising its arms in an attempt to shove off the oncoming blow. As they did this, instead of plunging her dagger down, Leila let go of it.

The dagger twisted through the air, and the figure began to lose balance, having readied their body to fend off a blow that never came. As that happened Leila jumped off of Matthew's back, and Matthew simultaneously grabbed the dagger out of the air, and quickly hooked it around, sinking it between the two leg plates and into the back of the figure's kneecap.

With this, the figure fell, their leg no longer able to support their weight. As they crashed to the ground with a deafening thud, Leila landed on top of their chest, and with lightning speed and precision ripped her first dagger out of their chest, and then stabbed it through their visor's helmet. There was a splurt of blood, and the body spasmed a few times before lying still.

They had no time to celebrate their victory however, as the fight evidently drew the attention of other guards. The two quickly bent down to grab their daggers, and began to sprint towards their exit. Leila flashed a smile at Matthew as they ran, and Matthew smiled back at her, still feeling the adrenaline pumping through his veins. However, the smile quickly fell as he felt his belt where he had the crest stowed away. Instead of the pouch there as he expected, he felt nothing. He stopped cold, and turned back towards the dead figure, who he could now see had his pouch grasped in their unmoving hands.

He was about to run back when he felt a tug on his shoulder. "We have to go now Matthew, there isn't any time". He looked back at the pouch, and then back at her and nodded, and the two of them ran until they had successfully escaped.

"So," Leila started after they had returned to the safety of their home, "What did you manage to steal before almost dying?"

Matthew sighed as he held an ice pack to his face. A potion had healed his broken nose but hadn't made the phantom pains go away. A price to pay for the quick healing I suppose. "Well... I don't have anything technically."

Leila's eyebrows shot up before she doubled over with laughter. "You're telling me," she managed to say between laughing fits, "that you almost got sliced in half, but you didn't walk away with anything at all?"

Matthew wasn't nearly as amused as he replied, "Well not that you'd believe me, but I stole the Ocean Seal that we were there for. But in the fight the guard ripped the pouch that I had it in off my belt, and I didn't realize until we had to leave." He put his head in his hands and let out a large sigh, disappointed in himself.

Leila quieted as he said he told her this, and he heard her say, "Oh babe I'm... I'm sorry for laughing at you."

"It's ok, you didn't mean any harm"

"Oh I didn't mean for laughing just now" she said as there was a thump on the table. "I was apologizing for what I was about to do". Matthew looked up and saw both the Ocean Seal on the table and Leila, sitting there trying to hold back laughter. As soon as he looked back at the Ocean Seal, she lost it.

After she had laughed until her insides hurt, Matthew asked, "How did you get this?"

Leila wiped tears from her eyes as said, "I stole it off of you hon. Took me a while to find which pouch you put it in while we were trying to kill that guard, but I found it." She must have seen his dumbfounded look because she smiled and said, "Honestly, you didn't believe I left my dagger in their chest because I couldn't pull it out, did you?"

"But" Matthew sputtered, "My pouch was in their hand"

"A good touch on my end," Leila replied, and smiled devilishly. "I had to make sure you weren't suspicious of me if you noticed it was gone, so as we were grabbing our daggers I quickly stuck it in their hand."

Leila walked over from the other side of the table and sat down on Matthew's lap. "And, just to rub it in," she said as she reached into one of her own belt pouches, "I snagged this." She pulled out the pearl necklace that Matthew had first found in the treasure room. "You seemed to be ogling this, so I made sure to grab that after you provided the proper distraction." She clasped it on her own neck and then batted her eyes innocently at him.

Matthew just shook his head and smiled before grabbing the back of her head and going in for a big kiss. The two of them shared in a passionate kiss before she started to pull away, and then stood up saying, "First, you have to say that you'll never question my skills again".

Matthew sighed, "I'll never doubt you again Leila. Happy?"

"Oh whatever" Leila replied with a smile on her face. Then she sashayed over towards their bedroom, calling over her shoulder, "C'mon Matthew, I want to celebrate my victory"

Matthew shook his head and stood up before straightening up his clothes a little bit before following her in.

Gods he loved this woman.

* * *

A/N: This one is for you Undercover-Dark-Knight! As soon as I saw that you liked MatthewXLeila I had the beginnings of this story in my head. However, as I wrote it changed a lot, so I hope that the beginning isn't too tonally different from the end. And to everyone other than Undercover-Dark-Knight, I hope that you enjoyed!

Until next time!

King35763


End file.
